Island



UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

STEPHEN M. HAMBLIN, OF TAUNTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF THREE-FOURTHS TO WILLIAM H. GOLDSMITH, OF CENTRAL FALLS,

RHODE ISLAND.

LOOM-SHUTTLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 603,141, dated April 26, 1898.

Application filed October 16 1897. Serial No. 655,428. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: I

Beit known that I, STEPHEN M. HAMBLIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Taunton,in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Loom-Shuttles, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to the devices which are employed in loom-shuttles for the purpose of holding the bobbins in place upon the spindles thereof during the working of the shuttles.

It relates in part also to the means of connecting the shuttle-spindles and bobbin-retaining devices with the shuttle-bodies.

Many devices have been contrived heretofore for the purpose of retaining bobbins upon the spindles of loom-shuttles, and a variety of such devices is in use at the present time. All thereof which I have met with in practice are open to the objection that they occasion more or less injury to the head of the bobbin by bruising, chipping, or breaking the said head. The most common of the said devices consists of a stiff piece of steel that is held by a screw to the shuttle-body and provided at its free end with a raised flange having a concave edge conforming to the curvature of the head of the bobbin. As is well known, the head of a bobbin is formed with a circumferential groove which is designed to receive the engaging end of the bobbin-holding catch. The bobbin having been placed upon the spindle, as the spindle and bobbin together are lowered into the cavity of the shuttle-body the said engaging portion of the catch enters the said groove. However, it happens frequently in practice that through some slight misplacement of the bobbin or for other reasons the bobbin-holding catch does not enter fairly into the groove, and hence instead of the end of the catch entering the groove it strikes more or less squarely against the enlarged head of the bobbin at one side of the groove, thereby injuring the same. Sometimes the catch fits so tightly in the groove that as the bobbin is being raised for thepurpose of being removed and replaced or for some other reason the catch binds tion.

against one side of the groove with sufficient force to break or splinter the head of the bobbin. This tendency to break or otherwise injure the head of the bobbin results in part from incapacity of the old forms of catches or bobbin-retainin g devices to adjust or adapt themselves to the position of the bobbingroove and in part also to the fact, which is most clearly apparent in the case of the spring-catch to which reference has been made, that they practically are fixed absolutely, while in being raised or lowered the bobbin-head moves in a curved path through an arc of a greater or less extent.

The object of the invention primarily is to provide an efficient and satisfactory form of bobbin-holding device which shall be free from all tendency to break or otherwise injure the heads of bobbins.

A second object of the invention is to provide for securing the shuttle-spindle and the bobbin-retaining device in place within the body of a loom-shuttle.

The invention consists in certain features of improved construction and in novel and improved combinations of parts, all as first Will be described fully with reference to the accompanying drawings and afterward will be more particularly pointed out and distinctly defined in the claims at the close of this specification.

In the said drawings I have illustrated the best embodiments of the invention which I have yet contrived.

Figure 1 of the said drawings is a view, partly in side elevation but chiefly in longitudinal section, of a loom-shuttle having applied thereto one embodiment of my inven- Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation, showing a bobbin, a shuttle-spindle, my improved bobbin-retainer, and the small yoke or frame with which the spindle and bobbin-retainer are connected. Fig. 3 is a view showing the said parts in plan. Fig. 4 is a view in elevation from the left-hand side in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a perspective showing another mode of applying or mounting my improved bobbin-retainer. Fig. 6 is a perspective showing a further mode of applying or mounting the same. 1 designates the shuttle-body, 2 the spindle, and 3 a bobbin placed on the said spindle.

4 is the circumferential groove which is formed in the head of the bobbin for thepurpose of receiving the engaging portion of the bobbin-retaining device.

5 designates my improy'ed bobbin-retainer. It consists of a bail or loop, which is curved to correspond with the curvature of the head of the bobbin and is shaped and proportioned to fit within the groove 4. The said bail or loopis formed or provided with journals 51 51, diametrically opposite each other, the said journals being applied to suitable supports or bearings within the shuttle-body, on opposite sides of the spindle 2, and the body of the retainer hanging or depending freely from the said journals and being free to swing readily thereon, so as to render it self-adjusting and thereby enable it to conform to the position and movement of the portion of the bobbinhead with which it coacts.

In practice, a bobbin 3 having been placed on the spindle 2 and pressed fully home thereon, on lowering the spindle and bobbin together into the cavity of the shuttle-body the swinging bail 5 passes readily into the groove 4 in the bobbin-head. In consequence of being mounted to swing with freedom on its journals 51 51, the loop or bail 5 adapts itself at all times to the movement of the bobbinhead and the position of the groove 4 thereof. In the descent of the bobbin into the shuttlecavity the side portions of the bail or retainer at or adjacent to the journals 51 first enter the groove 4 of the bobbin-head, and as they are received more fully into the said groove the retainer adapts and accommodates itself fully to the position of the said groove as the bobbin swings downward, thus seating itself properly within the said groove. The bail or retainer 5 clasps and encircles the lower half of the bobbin, and thus the extent of the engagement of the device with the bobbin-head is sufficiently great to insure adequate retention of the bobbin under all circumstances. The bail or loop 5 may be combined with the shuttle-body in any approved manner. The bearings for the journals may be formed or provided immediatelyin the walls of the shuttle-body, or a support of approved character may be applied within the shuttle-body.

Fig. 6 shows the bail or loop 5, with its journals 51 51, mounted in bearings in bushings 58 58, which are screwed into holes made for their reception in the walls of the shuttlebody. The bushings are employed in order to receive the wear incident to the working of the bail or loop 5, but, if desired, they may be dispensed with.

Fig. 5 shows the bail or loop 5, with its j ournals 51 51, mounted in bearings provided in the upwardly-extending arms 52 52 of a strip or plate 53,intended to be secured by means of a screw or other known device against the under side of the shuttle-body in the manner which is customary with the bobbin-catches which are in most extensive use, the said arms 52 52 being intended to extend upwardly within the shuttle-cavity in a manner which will be clearly obvious to those who are skilled in the art. This form of support is intended for application to shuttles of the character now commonly in use and having the ordinary rigid spring-catch and is meant to be substituted in lieu of the said spring-catch.

Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 show the journals of the bail or loop 5 fitted to bearings in the opposite arms 54 54 of a small yoke or frame 55, the latter consisting of a strip of suitable material which is bent at mid-length, its sides or arms being shaped to form the eye 56, then separated sufticientl y to receive between them the head 21 of the shuttle-spindle, and then being more widely separated to enable them to pass on opposite sides of the head of the bobbin 3, leaving the said bobbin-head free to move into and out of the shuttle-cavity. The loop or retainer 5 is applied to these most widely separated portions of the said yoke or frame 55. The shuttle-spindle is connected with the yoke or frame 55 by means of a rivet 22, passing through the sides of the said yoke or frame and also through the head 21 of the shuttle-spindle, the said rivet constituting a pivot, on which the shuttle-spindle is free to turn in the customary manner.

24, Fig. 1, is the usual fixed spring, acting against the head 21 of the shuttle-spindle in customary manner to retain the sh uttle-spindle in either its depressed position within the shuttle-cavity, as indicated in Fig. 1, or in the upraised position which is indicated in Figs. 2 to 4. For the purpose of securing the said spring 24 and the yoke or frame 55 within the recesses which are provided for their reception in the proper end of the shuttle-body I employ a single screw 25, the latter passing vertically through a hole in the spring 24 and also through the eye 56 of the yoke or frame 55, and the threaded end thereof entering a nut 26, which is located in a suitable recess that is provided for its reception at the under side of the said end of the shuttle-body. \Vhen wear occurs between the head of the spindle and the sides of the yoke or frame, such wear resulting from the turning of the spindle up and down and it giving opportunity to the spindle to play or wabble sidewise, the defect may be remedied by simply removing the parts from the shuttle-bod y and hammering upon the rivet endwise or otherwise compressing the sides of the small yoke or frame more closely upon the sides of the spindle-head.

Customarily the spindle of a loom-shuttle is pivoted upon a pin, screw, or rivet extending horizontally or crosswise of the shuttlebody and having one or both ends thereof exposed at the sides of the shuttle-body. This mode of supporting the shuttle-spindle is objectionable on account of the tendency of the said pin, screw, or rivet to work loose and project, in which case it occasions injury and trouble in the loom in which the shuttle is employed. My invention enables me to dispense with all such horizontally disposed pins, screws, or rivets having an end or ends thereof exposed at the sides of the shuttlebody and liable to cause trouble or injury in the manner just noted. No such objection as has just been mentioned is found to exist in the case of the vertical screw 25.

I claim as my invention- 1'. The combination with a shuttle-body, and the shuttle-spindle, of the improved bobbin-retaining device consisting of the independent and freelyswinging bail or loop j ournaled at its ends and into which the bobbin-head is carried by thedescent of the shuttle-spindle, the main part of said bail or loop hanging below the journals thereof, whereby the bail or loop is made self-adjusting to accommodate itself to the portion of the bobbin-head with which it coacts, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a shuttle body and the shuttle-spindle, of the improved bobbin-retaining device consisting of the bail or loop journaled at opposite sides of the shuttle-spindle, and into which the bobbin-head is carried by the descent of the shuttle-spindle, the main part of said bail or loop hanging below the journals thereof, whereby the bail or loop is made free to conform itself to the position and movement of the portion of the bobbin-head with which it coacts, substantially as described.

3. The combination with the shuttle-body, and the shuttle-spindle, of the bobbin-retaining device consisting of the bail or loop, the yoke or frame 55 provided with the eye 56 and having the said loop or bail journaled in its arms, and also having the head of the shuttle-spindle fitted between the said arms, the rivet 22 passing through the said arms and the said head, and the screw passing vertically through the said eye and securing the parts in place, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

STEPHEN M. HAMBLIN.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM H. GOLDSMITH, LELLAN J. TUcK. 

